The Storytelling Pages of Mehded Maryam Sinclair, illuminating Islamic History and the Oral Traditions for children and the young at heart

I saw something last night that made me realize again why I am trying to set up Nur al Qasas as a resource…may Allah guide me and show me how to work for His sake alone, in ways that are pleasing to Him.

Look at what’s possible with materials from Nur al Qasas:
There was a gathering of three families, and there were 7 children there, ranging in age from 3 to 13. The youngest four were girls, the oldest three were boys. Since the oldest girl, 7, was sister to the boys, they were all together. They had been harmoniously busy together for an hour or so; I walked into the room where they were, and found them

sitting together around the oldest boy, who held a copy of Miraculous Happenings so that the other children clustered around him could see the illustrations. The Miraculous Happenings CD was playing, and some of the children were speaking along with the CD as it played, and the boy was pointing to illustrations as they listened.

It struck me that

*they had come to this activity entirely on their own,

*they were involved enough in the text to want to speak its words while listening,

and, most important,

*they were vitally involved with matters of Qur’an. It wasn’t just something you were supposed to learn about; it was fun, and engaging, and something to share and delight in, which is the work of childhood.

How different from the scenario a Toronto friend once told me, “I had a huge group of eleven-year-olds and not one of them had ever had anyone tell them the story behind the Qur’anic Chapter of the Elephant.

I also spoke on the telephone to a mother who was reading the Miraculous book to her two boys ages 2 1/2 and 4. This doesn’t seem particularly interesting unless you know that the text of the book is quite difficult, not an easy one for small children to enter, certainly not written for toddlers and young children. But it was possible for her because those boys have been listening to the CD for the past two years. Her oldest boy went through a time when he insisted on listening every day…the sound effects, the drums, the voice were enough to keep his attention even though he surely could not have understood the story. But all that previous listening serves now as a magnet, and now they are able to stay absorbed while their mother reads it to them. I am certain there must still be things they cannot understand but their willingness to listen shows that their understanding is growing. They are actively involved with difficult language…it has pulled them in.

On another occasion I listened from another room as my two granddaughters, almost 4 and 6, play-acted a huge piece of Miraculous Happenings, even producing phrases and vocabulary they had heard on the CD. No one had ever suggested that to them, they came to it on their own, and children do when they are not preoccupied with television and electronics.

I am writing these out to you in hopes that you might share them with folks you know, that they might come to understand the potential for capturing their children’s imaginations with the Real, for giving them materials that will directly improve their children’s language capacity, and for supporting social activity among their children that is beneficial and meaningful.